Kaitou Kyou
by YueRyuu
Summary: AU: The secret Hibari attempted to protect was discovered by Dino: he is the famous phantom-thief Kaitou Kyou and isn't exactly a normal human physically. Then, Dino learns of the sacrifice Hibari is more than willing to take that Mukuro is trying to prevent. Disclaimer: I don't own KHR. I suck at summaries. Yaoi/Shounen-ai. D18. One-sided 6918.
1. Kaitou Kyou

If someone has any kind of complaint or compliment for this story at all, please do tell me! This is only my second fan-fiction, so I am not as experienced in this field as I would wish to be….

By the way, I am trying to keep all of the characters in this story away from being too OOC. Though, in some parts of my story, OOC-ness is needed.

I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn...I wish I did...

I hope you like this story!

XxX

The dark, starry night was expectant—expectant for the dark wings to soar within it. Search lights probed around for a certain figure, their light reflecting off of the gray, storm clouds, illuminating the city of Namimori even more. The wind blew in furious heaps as the clouds promised rain; thunder screamed as it cracked the sky. But these elements fell on deaf ears.

Police cars and the media were waiting for the young kaitou to appear once again to steal the piece of artwork the thief announced he would at midnight. Sycophant followers of the famous thief chattered with one another in the interim as they waited for the instant the phantom thief would emerge from his hiding.

Detective Rokudou Mukuro was inside the old museum. Even though Rokudou Mukuro was of a young age, he already graduated from college, and if that wasn't enough to set him apart from the crowd, then his heterochromatic eyes definitely would. An officer ran towards the detective, his leather boots clicking hollowly against the ground, allowing it to resound throughout the building as he came running. The police officer halted his run, trying to catch his breath.

"Mukuro-san, we went back to check on the painting as you ordered, but…" The man was hesitant before continuing in a louder tone of voice, "The painting was gone when we got there."

Mukuro only smirked in reply. 'Kufufu. He actually fell for it; I switched the location of the painting and replaced it with a replica.'

A black, falling feather caught the detective's attention. Mukuro's eyes grew half of a millimeter in recognition as he turned around to face the silhouette behind him. A smaller than him teenager with raven hair and striking, gray-blue eyes stood before him. The phantom thief was wearing a long, black coat with long sleeves; under the coat, equally black pants and leathered boots were visible. The beautiful complexion was mesmerizing, but the pitch black wings clinging to his slender back shot a bullet in the heart.

"Hn. Herbivore, you'll have to do better than that," a voice enriched with a murderous aura mocked as a painting was swung forward with a flick of the wrist: it was the facsimile, Mukuro noted.

Mukuro caught it an unconstrained form with one hand. He narrowed his eyes. "Kufufu. Yes, it seems I must improve my methods." With one snap of his fingers, out from the shadows came policemen, ready to attack as they gathered around the phantom thief.

Two tonfa appeared immediately after at each side of the kaitou's arm. He lowered his stance, spreading his feet apart slightly to attack as his wings disappeared like a gust of wind. His glare became deadly petrifying when he growled his notorious line, "I'll bite you to death."

With that said, the raven-haired boy forged ahead, raising his arm to swing back down to a dangerous blow on the shoulder of the nearest officer, while his other arm blocked an attack aimed at his ribs from another officer. The first officer fell to his knees, grunting from the intense pain. Identifying it as another chance to attack, the thief hit the other officer he was blocking on the side, and the aforementioned man flew across the room.

Utilizing the momentum gained from the previous collision, he pivoted on his heels to strike at another incoming policeman under the chin, knocking the officer unconscious instantly. The fighting continued in this manner until all of the officers fell victim to the steel tonfa, lying on the floor in bloody shatters, yet the phantom thief didn't even break down into a sweat. And, right when he began to relax, the detective came at him without allowing a moment to do the previous action. Nevertheless, the move was expected from other encounters.

A golden trident, which integrated from thin air, was now centimeters away from the soft, pale skin of the thief's neck and being restrained between two tonfa. The friction produced a screech when the weapons intersected in a split second. The thief was struggling to not be touched by the trident—he knew, again because of previous encounters, the sharp edges of the weapon were engulfed in a transparent poison; it wasn't pleasant dealing with this liquid.

A boom was heard from the nearby church's bells as they chimed the time. The thief's tension was cut off by its loud sound. The detective, noticing the distraction, quickly injected a violet liquid that was hidden in a pocket into the exposed skin of the wrist of the phantom thief, withdrawing his trident as he did so. The skin around the area of the injection commenced to turn into a hue of dark purple.

Feeling the sudden pain, the phantom thief kicked Mukuro on the abdomen and vaulted backwards. Dropping to one knee, the thief held his wrist tenderly, panting heavily and looking feverish, the heat crawling to his cheeks in an attempt to fight back the whatever-it-was. Mukuro stood by, simply watching as his enemy withered in pain.

"What did you inject me?" inquired the thief, keeping his voice as deadly as possible in his noticeable struggle.

Rokudou grinned. "It's…a little present, you could say, to restrain that incredibly aggravating _magic_ of yours."

Wobbly standing back up, the thief returned the smile. "Too bad for you: I've already taken what I came for." His voice faded out on the last word when black feathers secluded his features, and he disappeared with what little power he had left.

Detective Rokudou made a clicking noise that sounded like "Tch." He turned the opposite way he was facing in defeat…once again. 'Next time, I'll make sure to capture you, Kaitou Kyou…at least, now I have an advantage.'

Kaitou Kyou was barely able to fly two miles away before his wings disintegrated; he fell to the floor, his long coat snapping in the wind behind him. He managed to land on his feet, his dark brown boots that reached just before his patella making a gentle _clack_. He was able to walk a block down the street before he lost his balance.

When he was about half-way done with the trip to the floor, a firm, strong arm wrapped itself around his waist. The thief wearily reopened his eyes and gazed at the man holding him. His gray-blue eyes convened with brown ones. An Italian man around his twenties was gazing back at him with disbelief.

'Of all people, why must it be this annoying herbivore?'

Dino wrapped another arm around the phantom to turn him around. Taking note on the weariness on the usually apathetic face, Dino positioned the thief so the thief was resting against him. The Italian had already recognized the boy he was holding from just feeling the slim body of the other. (A/N: I wonder why…)

"Kyouya, are you alright?" The tenth heir to the Cavallone famiglia ran his eyes up and down in search of any injuries; finding none, he sighed in satisfaction. "Are you a fan of that famous kaitou or something? I mean: why are you dressed like that?" he giggled.

Kyouya began to panic—he couldn't let his secret be found out. He decided to go along with it since he was too tired to bite to death the stupid herbivore for always trying to get involved in his life; he tilted his head to the side and pretended to be embarrassed, the tint of pink from the fever already being useful in some way.

The next action taken the kaitou did not perceive: Dino placed his hand on Kyouya's forehead, and both of them were alarmed.

"Kyouya, you're burning with a high fever!" He hurriedly took the younger boy bridal-style and sighed (it seems sighing becomes a habit around Kyouya). "No matter how much of a sycophant you are of Kaitou Kyou, there is always a limit, you know."

The raven-haired boy could feel himself falling prey to Sleep. Among tiny, controlled pants, he defended himself, "Shut up…you…were there also…weren't you?"

Cavallone's cheeks became flushed in a cute pink for being caught red-handed. Dino was currently around the corner of the block ('Since when did he start walking?' the thief distractedly thought), ignoring the whispering of other civilians. "W-well, I saw him in the news once, and I couldn't help but feel attracted to him. Something about him reminded me of someone." He slowly smiled and peered relentingly at Kyouya. "He reminded me of you."

Kyouya, knowing he should be feeling cautious, was too exhausted to respond and finally fell into the embrace of Slumber.


	2. Two Lives, One Person

I apoligize for taking so long in uploading this chapter; I just couldn't think of how I should twist the story...Thank you for the review, alerts, and favorites! Thank you very much for all of the support I have been given so far!

XxX

Hibari's eyes fluttered open suddenly, a cold sweat dripping down his forehead. He took in a deep, shaky breath and looked around the room he was in. What came into view first was the sleeping face of Dino near his hand sitting on a chair. There was some drool seeping out of the Italian's slightly open mouth along with the gentle snore that told Cavallone was enjoying whatever dream he was having. Hibari sighed and lifted his arm to rub his throbbing head but came in contact with a partially-warm, wet cloth that impeded him from doing so.

"Stupid herbivore," the skylark mumbled under his breath. Kyouya slowly propped himself on the bed until he reached a sitting position, the cloth falling to the ground. Dino felt the movement and snapped out of his slumber and rubbed his eyes like a child, moaning in protest when the light stung his vision. He struggled to keep his words from slurring: "Hibari, what are you doing? You aren't well enough to be getting up yet…"

"Herbivore, it's none of your concern."

"But it is my responsibility to look after my student," Cavallone controverted.

"I can look after myself." The Disciplinary Committee Chairman narrowed his gaze dangerously. 'Since when am I a herbivore's responsibility?'

Dino ignored the glare he was given. "Not while you're sick."

Hibari was being vexed by the stupid nonsense this plant-eater was spouting. "I'm not sick."

The Italian blinked in surprise. "You feel better, then?"

"The fever is gone, if that's what you mean." Hibari felt a pink hue of shame creeping on his cheeks for admitting he was indeed bound by (if it even was one) an illness. At least, that is all it appeared to be. Upon this thought, he slid up the sleeve of Dino's shirt he was wearing. ('When did he change me into his clothing?'). He found a strange violet-glowing mark that looked like a crescent moon with a six-sided star. Dino gasped.

Recalling the night Rokudou injected the alien substance in his wrist, he realized the mark was meant as a seal for his power and (the next part he greatly disliked) perhaps as a tracking device. And the last string of his sanity cracked…

"That idiotic, herbivorous, useless, aggravating, sorry-excuse of a detective!" Kyouya shouted completely out-of-character. Dino jumped in his seat, fully awake now—he had never seen the skylark lose his cool before. Afraid of getting killed, Cavallone tentatively called his pupil's name: "K-Kyouya?"

Hibari's sanity was healed just as quickly as it broke. His voice screamed "Bloody Murder": "Tell anyone about what just happened, and _I'll bite you to death_."

The tutor gulped loudly. "Y-yes!"

Hibari smirked in triumph. "Go get me some bandages."

Dino nodded enthusiastically (more like he was scared beyond imagination that his life might end any moment if he took the wrong step) and went to do as he was told—scratch that—"commanded" would be more appropriate.

Returning with a first-aid kit, he handed the metal container to the skylark. Hibari grabbed a roll of bandage from inside the medical kit and wrapped it around his supernaturally incandescent wrist. Once he finished, he bit the tip of one of his fingers and smeared the blood that flowed on the bandage, depicting weird symbols. The subdued glow of the mark, along with the bloody symbols, faded without a trace.

When the light seized, Hibari winced—the place where his wings should be began to ache, threatening to spring to life; the skylark's breath got caught in his throat as he tried to suppress them within himself.

"Kyouya, are you alright?"

"Shut up and wrap this around my back," he managed to say in one breath. He shoved the roll of bandage into Cavallone's hand. Dino watched as Hibari slide his shirt off and revealed a lean, well-toned body. The chairman moved so his back faced his tutor and spread his arms enough to allow Dino to wrap the bandage. Dino followed and commenced to enclose the younger's torso, grateful the later wasn't looking at him because a blush decided to display itself, the effect of the way Hibari's skin felt so smooth and soft under his touch.

Hibari drew similar-looking symbols on his back with his still-bleeding thumb; he sighed in relief—the pain was gone. Dino watched curiously as those symbols also disappeared. 'I wonder what that glowing tattoo on Kyouya's wrist if for and what those characters he wrote on the bandages are for also…ugh…so many things I don't know about Kyouya…'

Hibari put on the shirt and glanced at his watch. "Herbivore, I'm hungry: get me something to eat."

XxX

Kusakabe Tetsuya paced back and forth in the reception room in his special worried-tantrum; Kyou-san hadn't returned yet from his recent mission that was two days ago. 'But I did receive the painting…why does he always disappear on his own without telling anyone? What if he is hurt? No, no, no, Kyou-san could never get hurt…he probably fought that cocky detective who tends to get in the way and got injured, though…' The vice-chairman of the Disciplinary Committee was about to yank his hair out when he heard knocking on the door.

"Enter."

The door slowly opened to reveal a person with a pineapple-like hair style and monochromatic eyes. 'Speaking of the devil, what is Rokudou doing here?' A warning alarm was flaring in the prefect's mind.

"Excuse me; today I transferred schools and was told I could get a guide here." Mukuro, although not known to him, simulated innocuousness in the presence of the vice-chairman.

And Kusakabe followed in character. "Of course, follow me."


	3. Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

This is a short chapter…but I am already working on the fourth chapter, if that makes it better.

Thank you for the reviews, Traum-Alptraum; your recommendations really helped me in developing this story further!

XxX

Kusakabe Tetsuya glanced behind him once again as he was explaining the rules and the location of certain classes Mukuro will be attending. Mukuro nodded in comprehension at everything Kusakabe was saying, along with that unrelenting, creepy smile that never left Rokudou's features.

Tetsuya halted in front of the Reception Room, marking the finalization of the tour of Hibari's precious school, even if he usually (more like never before) didn't even bother to associate with anyone outside of the Disciplinary Committee. He made a hundred eighty degrees angle to face the undercover detective.

"That's it," he announced to the monochromatic teenager. The vice-chairman was about to depart when Mukuro stepped in his way. Mukuro's lips curved upwards. "Excuse me, I just couldn't help myself, but why is your uniform different from the rest of the students?"

The prefect was mentally rolling his eyes at the incompetence of this detective: hadn't he noticed the badge on his arm that clearly read as "Disciplinary Committee"? He merely gave Mukuro a blank look and pointed at the badge. "I'm not the only one who dresses like this," he informed.

Mukuro blinked and simply "oh"-ed. He then inquired further, "Then, are you the chairman?" Rokudou cocked his head to the side to show interest in the matter. Kusakabe chuckled at the impossible possibility of being superior to Kyou-san. Kyou-san shall forever be his leader, and nothing in the world will or can budge Kusakabe's loyalty—the prefect's eyes softened at reminding himself yet again he is and will forever be Hibari's right-hand man and second-in-command. When he spoke, he sounded distant, lost in the memory of his great, omnipotent ruler: "No, I'm the vice-chairman."

"May I ask who it is?"

The prefect had to think more than twice this time: had Mukuro finally caught Hibari's scent? Why was he so interested in the Disciplinary Committee? Was he trying to pry out some kind of information by gaining the knowledge he sought? Nevertheless, the true identity of Hibari Kyouya was concealed to a level in which only a handful of people knew Kyou-san's true identity; plus, there were "nom de guerre" for every time Kaitou Kyou would appear, so it should be safe to say who the head prefect is (he couldn't avoid the question because it would increase probable suspicion of Hibari being whatever the detective thought he was, which was the most likely phantom thief).

"Hibari Kyouya-san."

"Hibari Kyouya…-san, is it?" Mukuro repeated to himself. 'Hibari Kyouya, huh? Hibari means skylark…and skylark equals wings or flying…? Kyouya means night's reflection, and Kaitou Kyou appears only at night and is shrouded in pure black as if reflecting the night…and Kyou from Kyouya completes it all. Quite clever, actually,' Mukuro's thoughts wondered after giving his gratification and farewell greeting to the prefect. His red eye glimmered brighter, and he bit down on the inside of his cheek. 'Damn, I still need evidence of Hibari Kyouya being Kaitou Kyou. The only lead I have is of that thief heading to this exact location.' He sighed; if only that mark he placed on the phantom thief would allow for the tracking function it has to stay active while the thief is, at the very least, half-conscious.

XxX

The sidewalk had puddles here and there, and the moist scent in the air told the heavens have poured their waterfalls. Hibari could see his breath forming ghosts every time he exhaled because of the drop in temperature. He felt a drop of cool water fall on his raven hair from a tenacious leaf that was now the sole one standing on the tree he was sauntering past; the rest of the leaves lay below in a mushy, brown and yellow mess. Hibari smirked—he liked that lone leaf.

Running footsteps and splashes of water were heard coming towards Kyouya, but he just ignored them, already knowing who it was.

"Kyoooouyaa~!"

'Aggravating, stupid herbivore…' Dino finally caught up to Kyouya, somehow managing not to trip over his own foot. "Where are you going?" Cavallone nonchalantly inquired.

"Herbivore, stop crowding."

The blonde's lips shaped a pout. "Kyouya, why do you keep calling me a herbivore? I eat meat, you know."

Hibari glared at the Italian. "Because you're a wolf in sheep's clothing that has forgotten it is a wolf, not a sheep," he said bluntly. Dino tilted his head and raised an eyebrow in confusion.

The colloquial day ceased when the atmosphere changed. The wind blew ominously. The skylark desisted walking, making Dino even more confused. The thief let a low, feral growl escape his throat, his eyes tinting themselves a red haze of hatred. A certain heterochromatic person revealed himself, separating his mass from the shadows.

"And you're a phantom disguised as a human; am I right, Hibari Kyouya?"

XxX

And there is another cliffhanger. It seems I enjoy leaving others on cliffhangers. Haha.


	4. Pineapples are Found at the Store

Another deep snarl surfaced from Hibari's throat as he glared daggers at Rokudou. "Who are you?" Kyouya feigned ignorance.

"Kufufu. I'm hurt, Kyouya: you don't remember?" The detective placed a hand on his chest for a dramatic effect, his eyebrows crunching slightly.

Hibari huffed. "The only pineapple I've ever met is at the store," he haughtily retorted. Dino could only fear for his life as he saw a dark aura surrounding the rivals, and he slowly backed away. Nevertheless, something was nicking the back of his brain: wasn't Kyouya blabbering about an "idiotic, herbivorous, useless, aggravating, sorry-excuse of a detective"? But this person wasn't a detective, right? Yeah, yeah, that's right: he was too young to be one. Unless, he was a genius…Dino was about to tear his hair out when he saw Kyouya taking a fighting stance, ready to attack with his bare hands if the dichromatic pineapple aggravated the skylark further. That is when Cavallone knew he should step in to impede the dispute between the detective and the prefect.

"Please, stop this useless bickering." Dino's voice was firm, the colloquial playfulness gone. Hibari smirked: so, the wolf decided to reveal its true colors. Mukuro blinked: wasn't the blonde just a loyal puppy of Kyouya? 'I'll have to look into his background; he might know if Hibari Kyouya is indeed the phantom thief.'

"And who are you to be ordering me around?" Rokudou cocked his head mockingly.

Dino was about to play right into the detective's trap when Hibari possessively began to drag his tutor away by the wrist with a death-grip after retaliating in colorful language, "F*** off."

Dino was stunned by the sudden expletive, reverting to the sheep he acts like he is. Mukuro, on the other hand, besides also being stunned because of the colorful words, increased his suspicion Hibari Kyouya either was the famous kaitou or was somehow related to the thief, and Dino Cavallone either knew Hibari was indeed the phantom thief or was, like Kyouya, somehow related to Kaitou Kyou. "Kufufu. That Hibari Kyouya is smarter than what he lets on," the detective said as he turned around to leave.

XxX

"Kyouya, don't ignore me! You know him, don't you?" Dino was surely tenacious for not backing down when he received the tenth glared in the past forty minutes—anyone else would have ran out the room in fear of being "bitten to death" the first time the skylark shot an atrocious glare.

"Stop being annoying, annoying herbivore." Hibari took another sip from his strawberry smoothie, keeping his eyes on Dino as though the older was his prey. Dino followed suit and drank some more of his mango smoothie, mumbling protests as he did so. Suddenly, Dino remembered a previous event. "Kyouya, what were you really doing that night when I found you? I mean, you just came down from who-knows where."

Almost spitting out what little of the smoothie he had yet to swallow, Hibari intensified his glare, which in return made Dino jump in his seat, the hairs on his neck exalting. "You're imagining things, sheep," Kyouya said as he closed his eyes, bring up his cool smoothie to his lips to drink more of the sweet blend of ice and fruit.

Dino, not wanting to finalize the discussion yet, persisted: "I know what I saw, and you definitely came from the sky—even you can't possibly jump from that height."

"I can," was the confident reply.

The Tenth Heir of the Cavallone Famiglia blinked. Thinking the skylark was trying to get him off his back, he grinned mischievously. "Oh, really~?"

Hibari opened his eyes and smirked, a daring tone clearly visible in his voice: "You don't believe me?"

XxX

"Kyouya, please, whatever you do, don't jump!" Dino shouted from the bottom of an eight-story building.

Hibari was currently on the terrace of a tall building, smirking with his arms crossed at his tutor. Dino really did NOT expect for Hibari to really vault off a building; he didn't care how strong Hibari was, any person would die if he or she fell off from such a height (he thought the skylark had at least this much common sense). Little did the blonde know: Hibari wasn't human.

Oh, how the phantom thief loved the way the herbivore panicked. Other herbivores, noticing the commotion, also commenced to gather on the skirt of the building, pointing at the thought-to-be-suicidal teenager and murmuring to one another. The skylark heard a random person shout for someone to call an odd combination of numbers (even though a five-year-old would know what those numbers referred to, Hibari never took any care to learn such information). Yep, Hibari was definitely enjoying this.

XxX

Haha. Yay, another cliff-hanger; though, I'm not sure if this could count as one…oh, well. I'm already working on chapter five—sorry, this is another short chapter, isn't it? Thank you again for the reviews and recommendations, Traum-Alptraum (especially) and Scarletblood 21. I seriously thought this fan-fiction was going to suck badly…


	5. Prideful, Suicidal Teenager

Hello, and I apologize for being rather late with this chapter…I had been having a case of insomnia for unknown reasons where I would wake up at four in the morning thinking, 'What am I doing up at this time…?' I had gone to sleep at 2 A.M., so I had expected my body to fall with exhaustion, but it had decided to act rebellious and torment my mind by actually doing my chores first instead of doing something else. And, so after one week and a half, I was beginning to think I was developing chronic insomnia and would have black circles like L from Death Note and Gaara from Naruto (is it even true you develop them when you have chronic insomnia?); I was mentally yanking out my hair at the thought of having that kind of new, atrocious look as though I'm a living dead…my mind was circumventing so much I couldn't think straight, which is how this chapter was left half-done throughout this period of time. And I apologize yet again for it. I hope my audience enjoys this chapter.

Thank you very, very much for all the support, kindness, and reviews from Traum-Alptraum and Scarletblood 21 and also for the kind review from cuicito.

XxX

A cool breeze fondled the skylark's raven hair as he contemptuously analyzed the hysterical herbivores looking back at him; he couldn't help but let a chuckle pass his lips when he saw a red truck from the fire department and an ambulance arrive—all he needed was a group of reporters and the setting was complete. Dino, however, was not amused in the very least.

XxX

Hibari suddenly ran off on Dino at the restaurant. A few minutes later after replaying their conversation in his mind, he finally understood where his pupil was headed off to. Running outside to the parking lot, he found his car missing; cursing under his breath, he dialed his right-hand man Romario's cellphone number, and, once the other line was picked up, he barked orders for his subordinate to come get him fast before a certain someone "commits suicide by jumping off the tallest building he could find in this town." Romario, sensing the urgency in his boss' voice, stopped everything he was doing at the moment, hurried over, and did as he was told.

Once they reached the tallest building in Namimori, they noticed Dino's car was parked in front of the structure where a sign clearly read "NO PARKING" in big, read letters. When they tried opening the principal entrance to the building, a thick chain with a lock was securing the building from the inside (the rest of the entrances and windows were like this as well). Sighing in defeat once he tried the last door, he felt someone glaring at him from above, and, surely enough, there was he: Hibari was looking at him like a hawk ready to launch at his prey from the edge of the flat terrace. Other people also began to crowd (much to the dislike of a carnivore) when as they simply were going about their business, they saw what they thought to be was a suicidal figure.

XxX

A paramedic got out of the ambulance and turned on the speaker so he could reason sense into the suicidal teenager. "Young lad, there is still much to see in this world; don't end it here by jumping off this building!"

Okay, this was seriously hilarious for Hibari: they really thought he was going to commit such a meek-like act? Nonsense! The skylark has so much pride not even a poison that could put down an elephant can stop him because his pride will not permit for him to be restrained by anything: he was a solitaire cloud roving the sky freely. "Stupid herbivore" was Hibari's reply to the paramedic.

Backing up, Hibari bent his knees slightly, stood on his heels, and, with a graceful leap, his legs left the terrace. Everything happened in slow motion after that. One could swear he or she saw wings on the back of the skylark when said bird was so high up that he blocked the sun. Gravity now taking over, the phantom thief elegantly somersaulted when he was half-way down his trip to the street. With a silent _tap_, Kyouya landed lissomely; pivoting on his heels, he faced the crowd behind him that was stunned into silence, and the prefect almost laughed at the faces, especially Dino's, the crowd was making. Slowly, the herbivores began to snap out of their trance as they began to cheer and clap for the amazing, graceful acrobatics the skylark had just shown.

"THAT WAS EXTREMELY AWESOME! JOIN THE BOXING CLUB AFTER YOU FIGHT ME TO THE EXTREME!" someone (A/N: Yes, I just had to insert him here.) shouted.

Another herbivore said, "Do it again!"

"Encore!"

"That was epic!"

"Wow, did you see that?"

At this point, even the paramedics and fire-fighter men were applauding. Hibari turned around to leave when a person grabbed his wrist. "Kyouya, what were you thinking? What if you died?"

Kyouya, without looking behind him to see who it was, apathetically responded, "I didn't."

The Italian sighed and let go of the younger's wrist, realizing that trying to talk reason into the prefect was futile. "Yeah, and that is what I don't get…" The dots finally starting to connect, Dino imprudently placed his arm under Hibari's legs and shoulders and began to run towards the parked car the skylark had previously stolen, giving Romario a silent command with a glance as he past his subordinate through the dense crowd.

Hurriedly placing Hibari in the passenger's seat next to the driver's seat, Cavallone found it eerie that he received no struggle. Probingly looking at Kyouya, he found Kyouya unconscious, his limp body permitting his head to slide to the right as the raven hair became a bit static when it rubbed against the material of the car seat. Furrowing his eyebrows in concern, the Italian got on the driver's seat and began to drive away, forgetting utterly about buckling his and Hibari's seat belt.

XxX

Calling his name, Cavallone shook the younger's shoulder softly, eliciting a pained moan. Cracking his eyes open with obvious effort, Hibari mewled when he felt the cool air caress his feverish skin. He turned his head to the left to encounter a kneeling, blonde herbivore next to the passenger's seat with the door opened behind said plant-eater; though, it would be wise to call said plant-eater a wolf at the moment for he was out of his sheep's clothing momentarily. Dino nearly reverted back to being the wannabe sheep when he saw the pale face and glossy eyes that usually held a glare, and, although it seemed the skylark was trying to control it, his breath came out in shallow pants.

"What?" But his voice still retained its deadliness.

It was more of a statement than an inquiry: "Kyouya, who are you really?"

Hibari came to the realization that he was at a dead end; there was no way to avoid this by ignoring him, avoiding the question, or feigning ignorance, especially since know Mukuro was probably now analyzing the background of Dino. The stupid herbivore was involved whether he liked or not.

XxX

Cliffhanger? It seems I tend to do this a lot; I guess I just want people to want more. Haha. That's evil of me, is it not? I'll try to update the next chapter within the week, and, once again, thank you for the support and kindness you have given me, Traum-Alptraum and Scarletblood 21.


	6. Truth Unveiled

I read my fanfiction…and I think I fell in love with it (?). I don't know—I'm just enjoying writing this so much (I just let whatever comes to mind first on to here and make minimal changes with parts related to spelling and grammar). Also, I know this is completely off-topic, but, the day before yesterday, I finally reached chapter 182 (although, that chapter isn't out yet…like the anime that they are making. Oh, and the producer (is that what you call them?) of the anime is the author of Fullmetal Alchemist/Hagane no Renkinjutsushi) of Code: Breaker. I was blushing madly when Oogami fell on top of Sakurakouji with just a shirt and boxers on! (Sorry, it's a spoiler to whoever hasn't read that yet.) I was hyperventilating so much; I thought I was going to get a heart-attack. And I just love how Sakura slept in his bed without a care while Oogami couldn't sleep in the very least! (Sorry: another spoiler…but don't worry; that is just half of it.) Okay, okay, I am done babbling about Code: Breaker, but, if you haven't read it, you should read it or watch it when the anime comes out if you are interested.

Thank you, yet again, Scarletblood 21 and Traum-Alptraum, for your support and kindness.

XxX

Defeated, Kyouya managed to say in among pants, "Not…here…"

Comprehending what the skylark meant, he reached towards Hibari, softly touching Hibari's shoulder but retracted when Hibari gasped, bending forward as he clutched the spot where the Italian had just touched, his face paler and contorted in pain with an achromatic sleet of perspiration; the pink hue of fever turned red as Hibari began to cough violently.

Half-way through a cough, Hibari submerged into unconsciousness and fell on Dino's chest. Cursing for the second time that day, Cavallone took Hibari onto his arms bridal-style and slammed the door behind him with his foot skillfully.

Stepping inside the elevator, he didn't bother to look up and see a tropical fruit waiting inside for him. Before Dino could step out again, the elevator's sliding doors closed behind him, and the machine began to ascend.

"Oya, oya, what happened to the skylark?" His voice lacked concern, replaced instead with mock.

Dino faked his sheep-mode along with his statement: "He actually has been sick for the past two weeks, and, no matter what I tell him, he just won't rest, which is how he came out to be like this today; though, it is nothing serious, just exhaustion."

'Two weeks? I injected the seal four days ago. He could be lying, but he surely is a good one...' "Kufufufu. Did his condition get worse because he jumped off that building?"

"J-jump off a building? I was with him the entire time at the park and when we went to that popular restaurant Jess Café (A/N: Actually, it is my favorite pan-Asian restaurant); you are mistaking him with someone else, umm…what was your name?"

The detective smirked. "Rokudou Mukuro."

"Well, it was nice meeting you again, Rokudou-san," Dino smiled, and the doors slid open as if on cue before the Italian walked out of the elevator.

XxX

'I'll have Romario run a background check and see if that kid is a detective,' Dino thought as he fumbled expertly in his jacket's pocket for his keys. Finding them, he swiftly opened his apartment's sole entrance and went inside, closing the door behind him with a bump of his foot. Disrupting him from his trail of thoughts, Kyouya began to writhe and moan in an intense pain, nearing him to the point of screaming.

Laying him on the couch, Dino called Hibari's first name. Snapping his eyes open, Hibari arched his back slightly when a more powerful wave of pain hit him; he screamed as his fingers dug and grasped the beige furniture. Closing tightly his eyes again, he curled on to his side; his fingers still digging into the couch, he bit down on his lower lip to not permit a second scream pass them, whimpering when another wave of intense pain hit him like a bolt of lightning as a silent, hot tear oozed out of the corner of his eye and traveled down his flushed cheek. Dino, not wanting to entice more pain, let the tear evaporate on its own by the heat radiating from the fever.

Curling further into himself, Hibari commenced another, dry coughing fit, covering his mouth with one hand as the other dug more into the furniture, breaking the expensive covering. Cavallone, knowing that it is harder to breathe curled up, tried to straighten the skylark's position—he flinched when he elicited another half-scream half-moan. Managing to get Kyouya into a straight position, he ran into the bathroom to find a thermometer.

Running back out with one, he sighed in relief when he saw the younger had become more impassive. Opening Hibari's mouth with his thumb, he placed the thermometer under the skylark's tongue and closed his mouth, holding the white device in place. Thirty seconds later, the thermometer beeped repeatedly, and Dino took it to read the numbers on it, begging for them to be below 103°F. But luck decided to rebel today quite thoroughly: "104.1°F," it read. His eyes nearly popping out of his head, the small device slipped from his hands on to the floor. Coming to the realization that he needed to lower Hibari's temperature before it went too high and killed him, he scrambled to the kitchen.

He poured ice into a bag, tied the bag, ran back to Kyouya's side, and placed the cold bag on Kyouya's brow. Shivering madly when the bag rested upon his forehead, Kyouya attempted to take the cold sensation off of him.

"Kyouya, it's to lower your temperature—it's too high." Dino's voice was soothing but cracked on the last word.

"I-it's…cold," Kyouya convulsively breathed out, resting his shaking hand on the Italian's.

Dino smiled, caressing Hibari's wet-with-sweat, raven hair. "I know, but it will help, alright?"

Leaning into Dino's tender touch subconsciously, he changed the subject: "I'm…the…thief…"

"Thief? What thief are you talking about, Kyouya?"

"The phantom…thief…Kyou," he explained, "Kaitou Kyou."

XxX

I decided to work on this chapter right after I finished the antecedent one. And I am proud to say it is currently 3:33 A.M. (Haha. How nice.). I think I tortured Hibari too much in this chapter, though…sorry…

Thank you again Traum-Alptraum and Scarletblood 21.

I'll make sure to update soon!


	7. Pineapples are too Strong for Herbivores

I apologize for the very late update. I don't have any reasons that wouldn't sound like an excuse, but every reason, in my opinion, is simply an excuse, if that makes sense: my excuse is I haven't had enough time to even touch the computer for several causes, all of which have to do with holidays, family, and school.

XxX

To say Dino Cavallone was shocked was the understatement of the day. Even though he suspected Hibari had some kind of connection with Kaitou Kyou, he still found his mouth agape and his eyes nearly popping out of his skull in astonishment: he didn't expect Kyouya to outright confess his probably most hidden secret.

'He must be seriously delirious to confess he is the most wanted thief in Japan,' Dino thought once he recovered from his shock because of another coughing fit that made Kyouya fall into unconsciousness once more. Sighing, he placed an arm under Kyouya's legs and another behind his shoulders, lifted him up, and commenced walking towards his room.

After placing the skylark on his king-sized mattress, he probed in his pockets for his cellphone. Finding it, he quickly dialed Romario's number. It beeped several times before Romario answered.

Dino cut down to business: "Romario, run a background check and verify whether a teenager of around fifteen named Rokudou Mukuro is a government agent of any kind."

"Understood" was Romario's reply before ending the call, stopping whatever he was doing to follow his boss' orders without questioning them just how every loyal subordinate under Dino Cavallone's command is. How Dino found so many people who were strictly loyal to him and him only was a world's wonder: how many people can you find who are truly loyal to you and have no ill intention reserved solely for you?

Throwing his cellphone on the couch, he proceeded to tearing his golden hair out. Whispering depressingly to his self, he shrank like somber honey to the floor: "Kyouya's gonna kill me; Kyouya's gonna kill me; Kyouya's gonna kill me; Kyouya's gonna kill me; HE'S GOING TO BITE ME TO DEATH UNTIL I AM A BLOODY LUMP ON THE GROUND!" He finalized his verbal rant with a sudden outburst and slammed his body face-first on the carpeted floor, sobbing as though there was no tomorrow. 'He is going to bite me extremely to death as soon as he finds out that I've been sticking my nose in his business…'

Eventually deciding to man up, he went to the bathroom to dip a towel in icy water for Hibari, heading to the kitchen once that was done to get a glass of water and acetaminophen and cough linctus. He went back to the room to find Hibari was trying to sit up with visible, although attempted to be masked, pain and effort. Nevertheless, the determined flames in his eyes were there with hazy feverishness; after all, Hibari hated being restrained more than he hated crowds—his pride won't allow.

Sighing for the umpteenth time, he walked next to the side the skylark was on the bed, preparing his light scolding: "Kyouya, you should know better than to try to get up when you are sick and with a high fever."

Hibari stared at him as though to say "whatever". Knowing the look too well, Dino sighed exasperatedly—sighing really became an action he did too regularly whenever it concerned Hibari. "Well, since you are already up, drink this," he said before handing one acetaminophen pill and the glass of water.

Taking the medicine from the Italian's hand, he stared at it analytically; Dino noticed this and informed him, "It's acetaminophen: a pain reliever and fever reducer."

Glaring at the pill, he concluded it was safe and located it as far back in his mouth as he could, took the glass of water from Dino, and drank the medicine and water. Smiling in relief because Kyouya, for once, listened to him, he gave the brown, glass bottle that contained a viscous liquid within and a silver spoon, knowing Kyouya would not let him treat Kyouya in any "herbivorous" way. The skylark read the label on the bottle as a new thought came to him: "Does it contain antitussives or expectorants?"

The blond man beamed at him. "It's a medicine recipe passed down in my famiglia that has both: antitussives and expectorants."

Hibari, not one to comment on such things, pried the lid of the bottle off, poured some of the blue (he raised a brow at the color) liquid within onto the tablespoon, and shoved the spoon to the back of his throat for the purpose of not wanting to find out the flavor of the eerie medicine. He flipped the spoon in his hand adroitly and handed the spoon back to Dino along with the brown bottle; Dino accepted it, scrambling to his feet to quickly put away the medicine he had brought with him and return with a thermometer.

Hibari watched as the Italian left the room. Once he could no longer see him, he felt drowsier than before, which made him feel dizzy; allowing his body to fall backwards, he winced when the contact of the mattress and his back elicited dull pain. Ignoring the sensation, he was about to fall asleep when Dino came back into the bedroom with a small, white device in one of his hands. Dino knelt next to the lump on the bed, concern omnipresent on his features more when he took in the anguished expression Hibari currently had. "May I take your temperature, Kyouya?" he asked since he didn't want to touch Hibari if it meant he would cause pain like before.

The skylark slightly opened his mouth in reply. Dino, understanding the action, planted the thermometer under Hibari's pink muscle. Hibari bit onto the thermometer when he felt Dino let go of it.

The thermometer beeped rapidly, alerting the Italian that it was finished with its duty. Reading what the small machine calculated, he nearly crushed the innocent device under his grip: Hibari's fever had risen by 0.3 degrees. Hibari, feeling anger and another emotion he did not recognize, cracked an eye open. "What?" he bit out sharper than intended to.

Dino breathed in air he didn't know he had refused before answering: "…Your fever went up."

"It doesn't matter; it hasn't been over two or three days since it began."

He couldn't believe he was hearing such an impassive, apathetic tone when he knew the skylark knew well his fever was above the 103s! "You could die if it gets too high! And I don't care if you are Kaitou Kyou or not!"

Hibari felt like biting the other to death: the Italian had just shouted what he kept as one of his most protected secrets! Upon noticing Hibari's intensified glare, he gasped, covering his mouth using a lightly tanned hand. "S-sorry," he whispered behind his hand.

Huffing, he turned his head, his raven hair falling to the side of the respective motion. He was allowing slumber to embrace him when he felt a wet, cool material on his sweat-dampened forehead. He was about to remove the object when he realized what it was. Not wanting to delay sleep any longer, he ignored the cool object and went back to his peaceful slumber.

Dino couldn't help sighing in relief: Hibari was now sleeping, the paleness fading a little as the newly caused pain was forgotten. Running a hand through golden locks, he couldn't help sighing once more—he really does sigh a lot around Kyouya. As his hand was half-way through the travel of going back to being limp beside his torso, his phone began to ring; judging by the song that was currently ringing, it was his right-hand man Romario. He, of course, already knew what the call was about: "What did you find out?"

Romario disclosed to Dino in a quiet voice despite the cacophonous crowd in the background, "Rokudou Mukuro graduated from college around two years ago when he was thirteen, and, since then, he has worked as an undercover detective under the Japanese government; every assignment he was given he would solve under two weeks, but, a year ago, he was given the assignment of capturing and exposing the intentions of the famous, phantom thief Kyou if, of course, applicable to the ears of the common citizens—so far he has been unsuccessful."

Dino smirked; that really sounded like a feat only Hibari could pull: not only did he have superb, fighting abilities; his intelligence was sumptuous beyond the sky. He knows as a fact Hibari Kyouya graduated from a prestigious college when he was eight at the top of the entire school; he just didn't like showing it, and, more times than just twice, he acts before thinking, especially when it came to a challenge: like vaulting off the highest building in Namimori without killing himself. And, above all else, he loved fighting as though it was his blood coursing through his veins. People come from darkness, and to darkness they must return. But not this eccentric skylark. Oh, not at all. Hibari Kyouya came from fight-comes-first, and to fight-always he shall stay.

"Thanks, Romario" was what he said before he finalized the call, a smile tugging the corners of his lips. He was proud of his subordinate and content because he received more information than he requested. Looking up from his screen, he gulped as he remembered he was in the same room as Hibari, and, surely enough, there was one feverish, surly eye glowering at him.

Although it still maintained its deadliness, he croaked with too much, obvious pain (it had Dino wincing from just imagining the amount of pain Hibari was currently in if he couldn't mask it), "What is the purpose of sticking your nose in my business _this_ time, herbivore? If I don't like your answer, _I'll bite you to death_."

Dino's hands were turning clammy; if he responds with "I want to help you", he would most positively be bitten to death before he even begins the word "help". He decided, however, to just go with that.

With the next action taken, he was surprised even more than when Hibari confessed he was the phantom thief. Hibari closed his eye with a vacillating sigh and then opened both of his eyes to stare at the ceiling dolefully. Hibari's breath was becoming labored but still managed to keep his voice even (if you put aside the raspiness it already has): "You shouldn't…" he closed his eyes tiredly, "get involved in my business any further…Dino."

Dino could feel tears collecting in his eyes: that was the first time he ever heard Hibari call him by his first name, and he loved the way it rolled off from Hibari's lips. But he couldn't give in to his emotions just yet—the reason why Hibari had just said his name was because he was pleading…? But just because Hibari was forced to plead didn't mean he would comply. "No." He seriously had a death wish, didn't he?

"Rokudou Mukuro…is not an…opponent you can…handle," he reasoned among harsh pants.

Dino smiled. "That's why I have you, Kyouya." He opened his mouth to say more but was interrupted by another fit of coughs that had Kyouya futilely attempting to sit up. Gently placing an arm around Kyouya's shoulders, he helped Kyouya sit.

Dino could tell the coughs were taking their toll on Kyouya as his eyes were attempting to roll back in their sockets. Reaching out a shaky hand, Kyouya clutched the white fabric of Dino's shirt; his head fell limply on Dino's shoulder as he whispered, "Take the bandages…around…my torso…off." He moaned as another wave of pain hit him like a bomb, his grip on Dino's shirt tightening more. All of a heap, he slid forward and landed on his chest. Dino panicked at first but then saw Kyouya looking up at him from the corner of his eye, so he ran out of the room to return with a knife since he didn't have any scissors.

XxX

Finally, I am done with this chapter. And I sincerely apologize for updating so late…I suck; I should curl up the opposite way and turn to dust.

I've been wanting to say this for some time now, but I've kept forgetting about it. When I mentioned in the story that "Kyouya" means "night's reflection", I actually couldn't find out what his name actually meant, so I took the meaning of "Kyouya" from Ouran High School Host Club because it suited my story best that way. I apologize if that caused any inconveniences.


	8. Cause Gnocchi is the Best

"Hold still." Dino began to cut with the knife the bandages around Hibari's torso starting from the bottom. When he was done, he noticed blood was starting to drip from two wounds that were each situated a little off Hibari's shoulder blades he knew weren't there before. He was leaning forward to examine them when Hibari screamed in excruciation and arched his back as black wings sprung to life from the wounds. More blood began to ooze out from the base of the wings, and Hibari trembled in pain while tears pricked the corners of his eyes.

Dino, even though he knew he should be busy attending the skylark, couldn't help being mesmerized by the beauty of the black wings: the raven, silky velvet color that seemed as soft as a cloud shown silver-blue under the light; truly, they would put to shame the night sky. He snapped out of his trance when the wings began to fold gracefully towards Hibari's back, eliciting a weak moan. Nevertheless, he noticed the skylark had regained some color. Intrigued by this change, he reached out to brush a strand of sweat-dampened hair away from Hibari's face. "Kyouya, are you alright? What just happened?"

"It's mainly because I sealed my wings, which caused them to push against my thorax in an attempt of release. Vaulting off the building agitated them more," he informed grudgingly as he sat up sorely and winced when certain movements caused pain.

Dino frowned. "Okay, so, if you knew that was going to happen, why did you do it?"

Hibari in stared at him in a you-know-exactly-why-damn-herbivore kind of way. Dino turned his gaze away, finally realizing what the look Hibari was giving him meant when another thought struck him, but the problem was he didn't know how to word it without setting the other off since he didn't know whether the topic about the skylark being closer to actually being a skylark than human was safe for discussion: "Ahh…your wings…are they…umm…"

Hibari understood what Dino was wondering about. He really didn't want to explain, yet, knowing the Italian, Dino would pester him until he spilled his guts. "My wings are supposed to stay out, but I contain them in with my power, but, since that annoying pineapple decided he wanted to test one of his tricks out, my power was sealed."

'So the topic of 'wings' is safe…'

"I see," Dino answered lamely. He deepened his frown upon finding another certain thought. "Then, how are we supposed to keep your wings hidden now?"

"I won't go out when I am not on a 'mission'." 'The main reason why I didn't want him to find out was because of what might happen to him if he gets too involved in this…but that's futile now, it seems,' he thought as he carefully laid down on his side and closed his eyes. 'I need to call Kusakabe and inform him about this' was his finally thought as he secluded his mind to darkness.

XxX

Hibari heard some ruffling in the background, and, when he opened his eyes, he saw Dino holding the thermometer near his mouth. "What?" his glare asked. Nevertheless, he was too tired to start a fight, so he willingly opened his mouth, and Dino placed the device in its respective position.

While he waited for the thermometer to alert him it was done with its purpose, the Italian mentally sighed in relief that he didn't have to fight with Hibari to take his temperature, and, although he tried to push all fret towards the back of his mind, his mental sigh became shaky near the end. Averting his vision from the bright world outside, he saw Hibari had fallen asleep. But that action did not last too long when the thermometer beeped, the sound of it echoing vociferously in the silent room.

Dino took the thermometer out of Hibari's mouth and read it out loud, "Exactly 104°F. It went down by 0.4…but that is still too high…" 'Should I give him some more acetaminophen?' "Oh, Kyouya? How well did the acetaminophen work for you? And the cough medicine?"

Hibari replied with a sleepy voice, "First doesn't help; second did."

A broad smile crept onto the blonde's face: of course something passed down from generation to generation from his family would work. "Are you hungry?"

No reply.

"You have to eat, Kyouya, if you want to regain strength."

Still no reply.

"Kyouya?"

Silence.

Then, "Gnocchi."

"G-gnocchi? You want to eat gnocchi?"

A small nod gave him his answer. "A-alright, I'll order some from a restaurant." 'There must reeeeaaallllyyy be something wrong with Kyouya if he suddenly wants to eat Italian cuisine instead of his usual Japanese.'

Kyouya turned his head slightly to the side to glare up at Dino. "There is nothing wrong with me; I just want to try something new."

Dino eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "H-h-h-h-h-how did you know what I was thinking?"

Hibari smirked, turning his head back to its original position to continue his slumber.

'D-did he just smirk…?'

XxX

"Yes, Kyou-san." Kusakabe closed his phone, ending the call. Turning around, he nearly jumped when he saw Mukuro leaning on the door frame with his colloquial poker-face.

"Do you need something, Rokudou-san? The school has already closed."

Mukuro's red eye glinted under the low lighting in the Reception Room with hidden amusement. He shrugged casually as he straightened his stance. "I was just wondering"—he commenced walking towards Kusakabe—"when _Kyou-san_ (He mentally laughed when he noticed a slight twitch when he said "Kyou-san") was planning on returning to school, Tetsuya-kun; I've missed him for…quite a while now."

"Sorry, he just called to say he was calling to announce for another sick-day," Kusakabe informed with a sincere, worry-stricken smile.

The fake smile turned into one akin to a smirk: it was half-hidden; the other half couldn't help but be shown. "Is that so? Well, that is just too sad—it's going to be another lonely day for me…"—he sighed, running his fingers through his silky hair—"perhaps, I should visit him and bring him a get-well gift…do you mind giving me his address?"

'He thinks I am going to fall for that?' Kusakabe shook his head, the grass that compliments his *name well in his mouth swaying. "Kyou-san doesn't freely give out his address, and I am not allowed to give it away as I please either."

Mukuro's half-smirk turned was set fully on, and his red eye shown like blood shimmering its fading life. The lights began to flicker on and off, and the floor rumbled as though it was a volcano about to unleash hell; a keen sound made itself known as the kanji for "one" appeared on Mukuro's red eye. "I'll have to pry it out of you, then."

XxX

*The way the author of Katekyo Hitman Reborn wrote "Kusakabe" means "the lower part of the sun". I changed the meaning to "grass wall/barrier" (another way to write "Kusakabe") so it fit the part; although, I have to admit, the meaning is rather lame—I like the way Amano Akira wrote "Kusakabe" a million times better. Haha.


	9. The Vongola

A strand of grass floated down to the floor: the last moving object in what used to be the Reception Room. The place was pure rubble, all furniture destroyed in the process; blood splattered of what little remained of the walls—there was a gaping hole the size of the room from an explosion that ended the physical dispute. Papers of unknown work lay scattered across the room either in shreds or whole.

At the very far corner of the room, a boulder of concrete twitched. The force under it pushed harder, throwing the boulder off of whatever it was on. Or whoever.

"Kyou-san…is going to kill me when he finds out his precious school has a room missing: the Reception Room, nonetheless," Kusakabe said to himself as he dusted his black, uniform pants as he recalled how Mukuro vanished into thin air quite literally…or mist…whichever counts more.

"_Kufu…fu…I guess you are not the fifth strongest and second-in-…command for…nothing…but that was still a dirty trick there: using a bomb." A fresh trail of blood cascaded down from a wound on his temple. The indigo flame enshrouding Mukuro's red eye that had the kanji for four inscribed on it flickered once at the flare of pain coming from the side of his lower abdomen._

_Kusakabe smiled. "There is no such thing as dirty in a fight."_

"_Kufufu. True." Mukuro chuckled again before a white mist secluded his form dissipated slowly, leaving behind no trace of evidence that the detective was ever there except for the droplets of blood on the floor._

_The room rumbled once more, and the walls shook, the cracks on them breaking further within. With a snap, the walls tumbled down inside the room on Kusakabe._

'Well, I am not much better off than Rokudou either," he thought dejectedly as he shakily stood up, limping from the large gash on his thigh, his arm lifeless at his side because of the pain it caused whenever Kusakabe attempted moving it in any direction (he also had a wound on that began from the middle of his forearm to his shoulder caused by the detective's golden trident). Before he could start thinking of the slapping he was going to receive from his superior, he had to think of a way to get to a hospital—his phone was crushed during the fight under the weight of his foot when it fell out of his pocket. Right: he needed a new phone, too. On the bright side, he managed to keep hidden the information Mukuro wanted from him (barely).

'But Kyou-san will most probably bite me to death for allowing…mainly being the cause of the destruction of Headquarters.'

Something in Kusakabe's pocket vibrated. Taking the object out of his pocket, Kusakabe took one glance at the caller ID and gulped. 'Speak of the devil…' "Yes, Kyou-san?"

"Send word out I will take the Vongola diamonds tonight at ten," Hibari said in French.

Kusakabe scratched his temple nervously, wondering why the need to speak in French was needed, but, since he knew better, he went along with it. "Ah…Kyou-san, I don't mean to object, but are you well enough to go today on a 'mission'?"

"Tonight and tonight _only_ is the moon eclipse in which every three hundred five years the Vongola diamonds' power reveals itself. I will not wait for another three centuries to get them. You remember what happened the last time I failed." Kyouya was ready to snap at this point. He couldn't repeat what happened 305 years ago. Mt. Fuji erupted, which caused more disaster to occur on top of the destruction a volcano already does on its own. Hibari didn't care, of course, about the herbivores inhabiting the area that got buried in igneous rock and ashes and floods and so on. He cared about the land and the small, cute animals living there. And both of those got decimated. He couldn't forgive himself if he allowed for it to occur again.

"Yes, Kyou-san, but, considering you can't use…_that_—"

"My physical ability is enough."

"—you wouldn't be able to skulk around without being noticed," Kusakabe finished off as though he was never interrupted.

Kusakabe could feel his superior smirking. "I'll just have to be frank" was what he said before hanging up.

"But you are still not well enough to fight physically, Kyou-san…" Kusakabe dejectedly said still in French out-loud.

XxX

"But you are still not well enough to fight physically, Kyouya!" Dino shouted as he blocked the exit of the room, preventing Hibari from going any further.

This Hibari didn't expect; who would have known Dino knew French? Well, it was possible, but didn't he already know Chinese, Italian (of course), Spanish, English, and German? Shouldn't that be enough for someone like Dino, whatever that someone may be? Well, it's not like Hibari already didn't know those languages plus more. 'I guess I never was interested enough to ask the herbivore what he did for a living,' he admitted.

"No else can do it. So, _move_," he growled as he attempted to weakly (for him) to push Dino to the side, but the older male didn't even budge a millimeter.

Dino took on a determined gaze. "I can do it."

Hibari tilted his head up to look up at Dino, an angry stare glaring daggers into Dino's handsome features. "You've never beat me in a death match," Hibari reminded.

"T-true…"—he lowered his head in deep thought—"but that doesn't mean you have are anywhere near as strong as your usual self." He jolted his head up upon attaining the thought he was probing for. "We can go together, then!" he said excitedly, an imaginary tail wagging behind him and perked-dog ears on his head in a very Gokudera-way.

Hibari raised a delicate eyebrow. "Why would I go with _you_?"

"That's mean! I have experience in this sort of job, you know," he pouted.

Interest stirred within the skylark. "And why is that?"

And, like always, Dino would run right into his trap without a second thought. "My family is part of the lineage of the royal family Vongola that is intent on keeping peace in the underworld; my family is the one who investigates any of the problems the main family finds. Did you know the king is not called 'king' but the Sky Guardian? The next Vongola Sky Guardian and the Storm, Rain, and Sun Guardians, too, go to your school. Did you know that?"

"Sawada Tsunayoshi."

Dino nodded. "That's the Sky Guardian."

"Gokudera Hayato."

"Storm Guardian."

"Yamamoto Takeshi."

"Rain Guardian."

"Sasagawa Ryouhei."

"Sun Guardian."

"The Cow."

"Lightning Guardian."

Hibari smirked: all suspicions he had were cleared. This is why he liked Dino some times.

"Wait. How did you know all of that?"

"Lucky guess," Hibari lied. "Who are the Cloud and Mist Guardians?"

Dino snapped his fingers. "Oh, those guardians. They were supposed to recruit a guy named Alaude as the Cloud Guardian when the Vongola came to be and proceed with the rest of Alaude's direct family line as the next successors. That Alaude guy was stronger than the first Sky Guardian, actually. The first Mist Guardian disappeared mysteriously, and his successors are unknown. So, right now, there is no Cloud or Mist Guardian."

Hibari mentally snorted. 'So that Giotto guy was the Sky Guardian and was trying to recruit me as his Cloud Guardian.' Hibari smirked. He liked that Giotto guy. Too bad he is dead. Hibari shrugged: such is the fate of a human, and he couldn't help it (not that he wanted to). But…should he tell Dino he is Alaude?

"Dino, Alaude is my real name."

Hibari would have never missed the face Dino made. It was priceless.


	10. Note

Of the upmost importance, I apologize, for I will refrain from utilizing any digital device. I promise upon my very soul, however, I will manage to update, at the very least, one chapter for every novel I finish reading.

If I may be allowed to, please accept my deepest apologies, and I thank you for the support you give by reading this story so far.

—YueRyuu


	11. Mount Fuji

So, I've read the previous chapters of Kaitou Kyou, and I noticed several grammar mistakes. But I feel too indolent right now and am in school (starting today), so I don't have the time or the will to do it. I'll probably correct it later; until then, please, mind-correct it and ignore the mistakes.

I also would like to apologize for not updating the day I said I was. My aunt and cousins, who I haven't seen in years, surprise-visited us, so I was too busy to even go near any electronic stuff (the microwave included).

XxX

"B-b-b-bu-but I thought your name is Hibari Kyouya?" Dino stuttered.

Hibari mentally rolled his eyes. 'It's amazing he knows that many languages.' "Alaude is my first name."

Dino gave a nervous laugh. "I knew that…" His determined gaze flared back on. "I won't let you go alone, Kyouya."

Hibari halted his pushing to cross his arms over his chest and intensify his glare. "Why?"

Hesitation took form in Dino for a fraction of a second. "Because I am worried about you."

A delicate eyebrow rose at that. "Why?" Many people would stare at Hibari as though he had grown a second head, but Dino knew Hibari almost like the palm of his hand. The reason why Hibari was like that was simple: he isn't familiar with the terms "love" and "friendship" and "family" however sad and lonely that may be.

Dino frowned at his question. "It's because I care about you!"

"Why?" That second 'why' was slightly too expected…

"You're my friend, and that's what friends do; they worry and care about each other," Dino explained after a pause.

Hibari found himself taken aback by that. The only things he ever cared and worried about was Namimori and, though he doesn't like to admit it, Hibird. At least, that's what his brain tells him. "Then, I am not your friend," Hibari analyzed.

A tear in Dino's heart made itself known when he heard that from one of the few people he could really call a friend; nevertheless, he filled in the hole in his heart for his determination, the back of his head reminding Dino how Hibari is. "I am still going."

Hibari let out a tired sigh, not noticing the hurt he caused in Dino. "What do you know about the Vongola diamonds?"

Dino blinked once at him before smiling. 'It's unlike him to give up so easily…I guess that just proves he isn't well.' "The diamonds were made as an incantation to keep Mt. Fuji dormant. Every few hundred years, though, the power the diamonds hold need to be replenished or Mt. Fuji erupts."

Hibari nodded in agreement. "Do you know how you replenish the power?"

Dino tapped his index finger on his chin in deep thought, trying to remember how exactly the power of the Vongola diamonds is replenished. "Well, I believe several artifacts were made that are needed to draw out the power of the volcano, which is how the power of the diamonds are fueled, and, without them, it is impossible to furnish the power the diamonds need. Um, do you know what those artifacts are?"

"Correct. The last existing painting created in Edo the first time Mt. Fuji erupted; the lava that formed into a perfect, human skull from that first eruption when it dried; and some of the ashes that fell in each of Mt. Fuji's five lakes from the first explosion," Hibari listed.

"I'm guessing you have all of them?"

Hibari evaded the question, "I need the diamonds."

Dino nodded in understanding, processing in his head the skylark already had all of the artifacts; after all, he knows what was stolen every time Kaitou Kyou appeared because of the media, but he still feels the need of smacking himself up-side the head for not noticing the purpose behind stealing all of those objects. "Where do we get them?" he asked as he dialed Romario's number.

"The main bank."

XxX

A black car parked in front of a large building with glass walls that allowed, because of its transparency, for the internal structure visible to all outside viewers as a red car a black away from the black one parked as well; the inside was bustling with business even an hour before the following day without a break—the bank was open twenty-four hours all seven days of the week. It was the only bank in Namimori that was open to the public night and day, which is what made it the most popular one in the entire city. And the most secure one.

The wind had picked up speed, causing the tree's foliage sway violently. Two figures dressed in black trench coats exited the black car: one was a short male with raven hair and the other was a tall male with blond hair. An imperceptible shiver ran throughout the younger's skin as a blast of wind blew against the direction he was facing and released the warm embrace his coat provided. The older male stood in front of the automatic doors and asked as he looked down to his side at the younger male and the doors slid open, "Kyouya, are you alright?"

Hibari ignored his query and proceeded to walk through the open entrance, passing the metal detectors, and glaring at the guards who told him they needed to check his pocket and coat for any hidden, illegal device. Even though he glared, he took off his trench coat and handed it over to the guard whom stepped up to take it, unveiling the long-sleeved shirt that revealed the skin of his shoulders until the edge of them, the black jeans that clung to his features like a second skin, and the dark-brown boots that went less than an inch below his knees and were tight enough to look like the boots were sowed to the pants. Dino did the same and gave his trench coat to the other guard; he was wearing black jeans that were tight but not as tight as Hibari's, a long-sleeved button-up shirt with the top three buttons undone, and black sneakers that could pass easily as dress shoes if not analyzed carefully enough. The guards and the bystanders watching blushed at the handsome men, already forming the idea in their heads that Hibari and Dino were models. The guards, after realizing they were staring too long, found nothing on the two, so they let them pass.

Dino whispered to Hibari without making it seem as though he was talking at all, "I can gain access to main vault without sneaking around."

"No, the diamonds aren't in the main vault; they should be in the third underground level," Hibari whispered in the same manner.

"Third? I believe the blue prints only showed two underground levels."

Hibari smirked. "Never trust blue prints. The elevator has a key hole leading to the third floor, and, to not arouse any suspicion, identification of any sort is not needed, prudently making it seem as though it is for emergencies, which is why the only time one is allowed to use that key hole is when there is no one whom isn't trusted by the company in the elevator." Hibari peered around the room, and, determining it safe, he walked towards the elevator with Dino and pressed on the "up" button, eliciting a yellow light from it.

The doors slid open, and the two went inside the transporting compartment. The doors closed behind the duo, and, from the space between his pants and belt, Hibari slipped out a plastic key.

XxX

Cliff hanger?


	12. Vote

Hello! First of all, I would like to apologize for not updating in such a long while—I have had not the chance to type anything, but I do have the story written or have an idea of what is to come. And that is when I came across a problem, which is why I am utilizing the short amount of time I have of free time currently to inquiry this:

Would everyone be alright if I turn this fanfiction into a yaoi?

Please, at the review box, I only implore for you to write either "yes" or "no". I will then count the amount of votes and display the winning side.

I will make sure the next time I update it will either be the longest chapter written or two or more chapters simultaneously.


	13. Mukuro is the Best

I profusely apologize for updating so late!

XxX

Metallic doors slid open, and Hibari and Dino walked out of the cramped compartment. Behind them, three men dressed in black suits lay beaten on the floor, blood oozing out of fresh wounds and swelling bruises littering their faces near the point of irrecognition. Hibari had a smirk on his face, and not a scratch was visible on him; while Dino appeared disheveled with his hair tossed in multiple directions and a bruise beginning to make its self known on his left cheek. "That…was…unexpected…" Dino commented as he attempted to tame his hair.

The smirk printed on Hibari's features twitched more upward. "It was more than expected," Hibari retaliated.

"It-it was?"

Hibari nearly rolled his eyes when another man in black came out from the protection of the wall covering the hallway leading to their destination. Without warning, Hibari charged at the man with silent footsteps and kicked the latter on the center of the abdomen, earning a gasp of cut-off air, and sent the man flying backwards to the brick wall. The man gave a load grunt when his back collided against the wall and a sickening snap of a bone resounded, followed by the rest of his body, and slid down the wall into an uncomfortable position in which his head hung over his chest; the wall hadn't been lucky either, for there was a large indentation on it and debris crumbled off onto the man directly below. Not wasting another second, Hibari adjusted his attire and resumed walking down the hall the now-injured man had arrived from. Dino's eyes would have popped out of its sockets if the moment had been less expected, but he fixed his composure and jogged to catch up to the skylark.

Rounding a corner, the pair came to a stop in front of a large, metal door that seemingly had no way to be entered. Dino smiled, remembering this certain door lock from a previous mission he had when he was still in high school. Walking forward, Dino crouched and patted the floor; finding what he wanted, Dino lifted a piece of carpet and set it aside, revealing a screen and numbers ranging from 0 to 50 drawn onto small squares of silver. Dino blinked at the device. He analyzed, "It seems they updated the version."

Gritting his teeth, Hibari clutched his hands closed—he could have sworn he had the knowledge about every kind of lock one could ever possible think of. Dino felt the murderous aura emitting from the skylark as he tried to make his brain work something out of what he knew about the previous version of this lock and turned around to see the skylark in a deep concentration, his pupils dilated and unfocused. 'He looks like he is planning every possible way he could kill someone with his tonfa…,' Dino thought. Taking a closer look, Dino noticed how the skylark's porcelain skin glowed under the light with the tint of pink from his fever and how his silver-blue eyes seemed to send shivers down his spine; those eyes he loved so much could peer through someone's soul with a just a brief glance. Looking further down, Dino found himself enticed by Hibari's slightly parted lips: pink, plump, and oh-so-kissable. All of a sudden, he felt impelled to run his finger over them and feel their soft texture, and, before he could think twice on it, Dino did just that.

Hibari immediately snapped out of his trance and scowled at Dino as he tilted his face upwards to meet Dino's gaze but made no movement to swat Dino's hand off of him for an unknown reason to him when he met the older man's stare. It felt like butterflies were swimming in the warm sensation that had decided to pool itself in his stomach against his will. The warmth spread to his cheeks, shading the light tint he had darker. Why couldn't he look away from Dino's chocolate eyes? He briefly wondered if Kusakabe knew the answer to his query. 'Yeah, Kusakabe would know…Kusakabe…Foundation…investigation…locks…Mukuro,' Hibari's brain slowly reeled. Hibari wanted to punch his self for not remembering it sooner, but he decided to blame it on Mukuro for infesting his blood with an eerie poison. "C-L-O-K-S-L-K-O-S-C-K-S-C-O-L-L-K-C-O-S-R-O-M-U-K-U-S-I-T-E-H-T-B-S-E. Translate it into numbers. That is the password," Hibari broke the silence as a vein throbbed on his temple—the one who designed this lock was Rokudou Mukuro himself; the password says it all: the word "locks" scrambled in different combinations and Mukuro's name's syllables switched, followed by "is the best" scrambled as well. The password was stupid like Mukuro, Hibari thought as he watched Dino stop from leaning down towards him (Hibari wondered what Dino wanted to do), turned around, and proceeded to write the password.

The door slipped under the floor, and Dino and Hibari walked through the opening without hesitation. Taking three steps in, Hibari stopped his foot in mid-air to reverse it to its previous position and stretched his arm across Dino's chest to prevent him from going any further. Dino turned to look at Hibari, puzzled as to why Hibari had stopped. "What's wrong?"

"Can you not see it, herbivore?" Hibari said as he took a gander at Dino.

Dino roamed his eyes around the room and found nothing there. "What are talking about? There is nothing there, Kyouya."

Hibari grunted something incoherent. Peering at the smaller male, Dino found his gaze on Hibari's collar bone: like his lips, it was enticing him to bite down on the sensitive skin and produce an erotic moan from the owner of it. Mentally slapping himself for thinking like a pedophile, he latter reminded himself Hibari was ancient compared to him. So, shouldn't Hibari be the pedophile in this kind of situation? Yet again, Dino reminded himself it was he who was making the first move and probably will always be the one to take the first step.

Sighing almost imperceptibly, Dino forced his slumped shoulders straight again and scanned the room once more for anything he might have missed. Turning his head to the left, he noticed a subtle glaze on the floor forming curve-like patterns; turning to the right, he could faintly see lines of white light heading in different directions, leaving barely enough space for a hand to pass though. Dino's eyes widened. How were they supposed to get through that? Voicing his question, Dino was baffled when the skylark simply vaulted forward, drew his legs to his chest, made a 360-degrees turn in that said position, straightened his legs as he reached the tall roof, kicked the roof as he pivoted on one heel, plunged forward with a twist of the body, and landed gracefully on the other side. The entire event lasted about two seconds, and Dino thought the event might have been a creating of his imagination, but Hibari poking his finger against another lock on the other side of the abominable traps proved his thoughts wrong.

Hibari returned his arm to its previous position limply, while a beeping sound alerted the lock was unlocked and the traps switched off. The Italian ran to Hibari's side, knowing the consequences of the skylark's actions.

Suddenly, a shiver wrecked the skylark's body and his knees gave in. With a groan, Hibari sustained himself with one knee and hand on the floor, closing his eyes tightly against the intense pain that decided to stab under his shoulder blades as his breath became erratic—his wings wanted to be released from its confinement. Dino, panic steadily raising, kneeled in front of Hibari and, placing a hand behind the raven tufts, made Hibari's head rest on his shoulder as he caressed Hibari's back and applied pressure on the areas needed.

The irregular breaths slowly evened out as Hibari rocked between the borders of light and darkness. Noticing the skylark falling into the clutches of slumber, he gently patted Hibari's warm cheeks. "Kyouya, you can't fall asleep on me. We are almost there. You can't give up now."

Hibari tiredly opened his eyelids and swayed precariously. Attempting to move his legs to a standing position, he found his energy had been drained away and the mark on his wrist began to pulse along with his heartbeat and throbbing wings like a symphony. Dino felt a cold wind brush against his golden hair when the last of Hibari's energy seeped away and his body slumped forward onto Dino's chest; looking up, he saw a cloud of mist unveiling the form within. A heterochromatic gaze met his, and the Italian heart skipped a beat when he saw the teenager's crimson and blue eyes glinting with something close to…jealousy?

"Dino Cavallone, get away from my skylark."

XxX

Tun-tun-TUN! My best cliffhanger so far!

So far, I have only received votes for making this a yaoi, so I turned it into one (my apologies to those who didn't want it to be a shounen-ai). I hoped I didn't ruin anyone's expectations…I am not experienced in the field of writing.


	14. Callow

Dino did what he never would have thought he was possible of doing. He growled: low, feral, and threatening. Hugging the unconscious skylark tighter against him with one arm, he reached with his other his whip. He could tell by experience this particular person isn't very merciful. "Make me."

Mukuro glowered at Dino, not liking the possessiveness the other had on _his_ skylark. Out of thin air, he materialized his golden trident and held it out defensively in front of him. Mukuro narrowed his eyes further when the Italian simply tightened his grip on Hibari.

Dino looked around, trying to find any other person that might attack. There was no one else besides the three. He widened his eyes as realization struck him. "I thought you were only going after him," Dino said incredulously, "because of orders from the government."

Mukuro raised an eyebrow at that, a smirk playing on his features. "Why, that was merely a ruse I conjured. Didn't Kyouya tell you?"

'Of course Kyouya wouldn't tell me he had a stalker with the power of commanding the federal military.' Dino shook his head and revealed his whip as his response for Mukuro's query. Without taking his gaze off of the detective, he laid Hibari down on the floor next to him and raised his weapon to his chest. Hibari groaned upon contact with the cold surface and cracked his eyes open wearily. What he didn't expect to see was Dino and Mukuro having a glaring contest, ready to strike at each other at any moment. Pushing his self up with both arms shakily, he snarled at Mukuro, which successfully finalized the contest. "Are you not tired of following me around after all of these centuries, Rokudou Mukuro?"

A light of hope flickered in the detective's eyes and a brief smile made itself known. With a triumphant cry, Mukuro kneeled in front of Hibari, forgetting completely he was about to attack Dino as he set his trident to the side, which startled Hibari and Dino (though Hibari would never admit it). "So, you do remember me"—he leaned in until he was cheek to cheek with Hibari and continued in a husky whisper—"Alaude."

Hibari shoved the other away from him and intensified his glare. "Get away from me, perverted pineapple."

Mukuro straightened his position and "Che"-ed. "You've always been so mean to me…even going so far as to refuse to be Giotto-kun's Cloud Guardian because I was the Mist Guardian and ki—" he muttered to himself.

A glint of light caught Hibari's attention; searching for the luster, he found the source of it coming from what he thought to be precious stones from a small aperture between Mukuro's thumb and index finger. "Rokudou Mukuro, give me the diamonds," Hibari interrupted, successfully stopping Mukuro from reminding him about that revolting memory of long ago. Mukuro immediately brought his gloved hand to his chest as if that was enough to protect what were held within it and shook his head like a child not wanting to give up his most beloved toy despite knowing it was a futile effort; the act was so callow, Hibari thought for an instant he saw a younger version of the detective shaking his head while holding a golden trident to his fragile chest. Taken aback, Hibari asked less harsh than intended to be, "Why?"

"Your appearance will change again, and I'll have to look all over once more to find you…I don't even know if your memory stays intact" was Mukuro's sincerely woeful explanation.

"It's only my hair, wings, and eyes that change—there's not much of a difference there." Hibari didn't know why he felt compelled to explain something he found so obvious, so, yet again, he decided to blame it on the poison. Speaking of which, Hibari now knew the purpose of it: to keep him from reaching his goal. The reason was stupid…something so Mukuro-ish.

Dino blinked. "Why do they change?"

Hibari opened his mouth to tell Dino it was of no importance, but another excruciating wave of pain had him coughing his lungs out. Mukuro visibly cringed in empathy, while Dino rubbed soothing circles on Hibari's back, applying pressure on the areas needed as he glared at Mukuro. "Why don't you give Kyouya the antidote for the poison instead of letting him suffer of pain, Mukuro?"

Mukuro scowled, a low growl emitting from the depths of his soul. "Compared to the pain when he activates the diamonds' power, this is nothing."

"It still doesn't justify putting him through this!" Dino was more than close to losing his head. How could a person put his or her precious person in any kind of pain of any level?

"It's still better than seeing Kyouya sacrificing himself again for his beloved Namimori!" Mukuro retaliated. Yes, he already thought about what Dino was saying—it's not sane to put someone through the pain Hibari was in. But he still couldn't find it in him to let the skylark sacrifice his self for the sake of others while they remained ignorant about the skylark's heroism, letting him experience a great deal of excruciation with no one supporting him.

"You're just being selfish there!" Mukuro knew that already; Hibari loved his Namimori more than anything. He never knew why, though.

"Both of you. Shut. Up." Hibari was growing to be more than aggravated by the two herbivore's bickering, if the black aura surrounding him was anything to go by. He turned to glare daggers at Mukuro, clutching one hand on the clothing veiling his chest. "Give me the diamonds. _Now_."

Mukuro sighed heavily, giving up completely as his shoulders slumped and his hand holding the Vongola diamonds fell back to his side. 'He won't give up, will he?' He knelt in front of Hibari once more and stretched out a hand to place it on the skylark's feverish cheek as he let out a small laugh. 'That is what I love so much about Alaude.' Running his thumb over the soft skin, he smiled sadly and leaned forward. His pale lips met Hibari's pink ones, and he closed his eyes as Hibari's eyes widened a hundredth of a fraction and his body became rigid. Running his tongue over Hibari's lower lip, he felt the other gasp, providing him the entrance needed. Hibari attempted to pull away, but Mukuro placed a hand behind his neck to keep him in place. The detective proceeded to trace every nook and cranny in the other's wet cavern, brushing his tongue teasingly against the skylark's, earning him a startled moan.

Hibari couldn't believe what he had just done. Did he seriously just moan lewdly? He tried to tell his body to get away, to kick Mukuro in the gut, to bite him to death, yet his body wouldn't listen: he found himself wanting more of that friction. Licking tentatively the tip of Mukuro's tongue, he slowly wrapped his tongue around Mukuro's and sucked on it.

XxX

That's probably the worst place to stop, but my heart can't take any more of this…I bet my temperature is at water's boiling point…

I probably won't be able to update until the coming weekend. I apologize for that.


	15. Decision

I am so happy! I've had more reviews, favorites, and followers than I could ever hope for both of my current fanfictions! Thank you very, very, very much! I really appreciate all of the support you give me!

XxX

Something seemed to crack in Dino's brain, making forget all rationality and his own personality. "Jealousy to the extreme!" he shouted as he tackled Mukuro to the ground. Hibari coughed as he felt a substance formulating in his mouth, a taste he had never tasted: bitter, sweet, sour, spicy, and salty simultaneously combined. The liquid slid down his throat, burning and freezing his flesh as it went and decided to travel to his heart. He doubled over, clutching his chest for dear life as he felt it throb painfully within his heart, slowing spreading from there to the rest of his body.

Dino raised a fist behind his head, ready to punch Mukuro on the face for kissing _his_ Kyouya—never had he felt such jealousy coursing through his blood. He never realized how strong his feelings for the skylark were, and, when he saw Hibari kiss back, his heart shattered in to millions of fragments as he felt tears prick his eyes in what he labeled as a weird sadness he had never felt before; that sadness almost seemed to convert into loneliness, but that loneliness was kicked aside harshly by the jealousy that now wrecked his mind. Swinging his balled-up hand down, he halted mid-air when he saw from the corner of his eye Hibari double over as he wrapped his hand tightly around black clothing with an expression of excruciating pain contorting his handsome features. Dino mustered the deadliest glare he could that might have been an equal to a scowl of Hibari in his worst mood, a feral growl escaping his throat as he did so and got off Mukuro to walk to Hibari's side.

Kneeling beside Hibari and placing a comforting on his shoulder, Dino asked with concern lacing his voice, "What's wrong, Kyouya?"

Hibari shook his head, not able to speak in fear of allowing mewls to pass his lips. Dino frowned in concern and looked up to see Mukuro also kneeling in front of Hibari. "Lay down, Kyouya; it needs to flow slowly."

"What…did you…do?" Hibari inquired as he felt Dino follow what Mukuro was saying—the way Mukuro said it was…sincere? Dino couldn't quite place his finger on it.

Mukuro shrugged and diverted his gaze from Hibari's to the wall, suddenly finding it interesting. "It simply seems you won't listen to me, so I gave you the antidote: an old incantation only you had access to."

"Is that why…you destroyed…my office?"

Mukuro chuckled darkly. "Yes, I wanted that information before you gained it. Your subordinate proved to be quite troublesome."

Hibari smirked despite the pain flaring within him. "He landed…enough hits to…make you…retreat…didn't he?"

An uncharacteristic blush crept onto Mukuro's cheeks; he mumbled to himself, "I was merely careless."

"The diamonds," Hibari switched the conversation. Mukuro mentally flinched, but he extended his hand towards Dino; Dino extended his with his palm facing Mukuro's, and Mukuro dropped seven stones onto Dino's upturned palm. Mukuro's hand hovered above Dino's as if reluctant to let go what he had been protecting not too long ago, and tears crowded in his eyes, ready to fall should he allow them the chance to. He closed his eyes as he pulled his now-empty hand to his chest and willed the tears away. But that didn't stop the tears from glistening under the light among his beautifully long eyelashes, catching Hibari's attention however dulled it was. It was a surreal emotion that veiled Mukuro and Hibari could not begin to make into a fantom, and it made him think of Mukuro's mist, something he couldn't grasp yet was there.

Mukuro seemed to pick up on the skylark's curiosity. "It saddens me to see you sacrificing yourself for something that can be repaired easily, Kyouya, but I guess Namimori is not just a renewable object for you, is it?" He paused, tilting his head up as he supported his weight with his hands. 'I wonder what is so special about this city that made the great Alaude want to protect with everything he has' was a thought he was aching to ask. There was another thought nagging the back of his mind: 'Why has no one rang the alarm for robbers yet?'

Juggling the diamonds in his hand, Dino peered at Hibari, whom had closed his eyes in an attempt to ward off the headache that was arriving—he marveled at how Hibari managed to look so beautiful under all of that obvious pain. Turning his vision to Mukuro, he whispered when he noticed Hibari had fallen into a deep sleep and his jealousy had entirely drained away, "Mukuro, why do you care so much for Kyouya?"

Mukuro let a smile grace his features and whispered back, "I am certain you've noted the attraction he pulls one with. One simply can't help being enamored by him once past his violent side. Sublime, aloof, drifting, and graceful beyond imagination is he, like the true Cloud his existence can't help but be."

Laughing quietly, Dino said, "I suppose that is what drove Vongola Primo to invite Kyouya as his Cloud Guardian."

Mukuro nodded, recalling how Giotto had reacted upon first seeing the skylark:

"_Are you sure it's around here, Daemon?" the shorter, blond man next to Mukuro—or Daemon Spade at that point of time—asked as he traced his eyes across every store's name he went by._

"_Whether it is or not, Giotto, is of no importance if I am wrong nor right. Nufufu."_

_Eyeing him suspiciously, Giotto said, "You make no sense."_

_Daemon slid a smirk on his face. "Of course not."_

_Giotto humph-ed and turned his face away from the taller man as he puffed up his cheeks slightly in annoyance. That was when he saw a platinum-blond, ice-blue-eyed teenager walk past him. A weird sensation sank into the pits his heart, forcing him to pivot on his heels and watch the receding back of the startling handsome teen. Daemon had mimicked Giotto's movements and a blush of an unknown emotion that made his heart beat loudly in his chest to paint itself on his cheeks. The way people created a path as they quickly ran to either side of the street in fright and muttered amongst each other somewhere along the lines of "It's Alaude-san!" and "Careful you piss him off, or he'll bite you to death!" went almost unnoticed by the duo, mesmerized by his mere presence._

_Suddenly, a broad smile spread across Giotto's face, and the blond ran towards notorious figure before Daemon could stop him._

XxX

This chapter seems a bit weird to me somehow; I don't know why…I blame that on the fact it's one in the morning. Perchance, it may be because of the fact I have the song _Dingue, Dingue, Dingue_ by Christopher Maé stuck in my head.

I am reprimanding myself because of the fact I may not be able to update the next chapter of my other fanfiction Ghost Hunt. I apologize for that greatly. It has been long enough since I have updated…I feel awful just typing that…

I hope I don't fail on my test on Monday (it has everything I have learned so far in World Cultures). I'll kill myself if I do, for I have spent all of my weekend so far studying for it.

If there are any mistakes in any of my chapters, I apologize. I haven't had time to revise my chapters so far, so if you do find one, please point it out so I may fix it. Thank you!

Also, I don't know if anyone has noticed, but I keep changing my summary for Kaitou Kyou. Haha. I tend to stray from my original plots a lot.


	16. The Prime Minister is a Tuna

_Giotto peered up at Alaude and was entirely mesmerized by the blue gaze peering back down at him. He blinked a few times to make sure he was not imagining this person. _How can someone look so beautiful—

"_What do you want, herbivore?" Alaude snapped when Giotto only stared up at him with a weird expression. "I'm on patrol. Unless absolutely necessary, don't bother me."_

—and be so cruel?_ Then, Giotto mentally grinned at the information Alaude had just spilled unintentionally and snickered to himself—his plans were going exactly as he wanted them. Pulling at the hems of his long-sleeved shirt and averted his eyes to the ground, he stuttered nervously, "T-there was…I-I saw…" Giotto pursued his lips as tears were beginning to collect and clump together in his large eyes that were better fitted for a girl._

_Alaude narrowed his eyes at what the other blond was implying and turned so he was fully facing him. "What did you see?"_

"_T-that man over there." Giotto raised a slim finger and pointed it at the figure half-hidden by the shadow of a building it was leaning against shakily…A.K.A. Daemon Spade. _Yep, just as planned.

_Daemon narrowed his eyes, his crimson eye creating a dangerous dance with the light in his iris, and an eyebrow twitched at the accusation Giotto was placing upon him. _So I am the bait?_ "That Giotto and his acting skills…!" he cursed lowly but loud enough for the trained ears of Giotto to hear._

_Laughing at the reactions he was producing from Daemon, he inched closer to Alaude and stood on the tip of his toes to whisper in Alaude's ear, "I saw that guy over there gr-grope this passing-by girl!"_ This is payback for tricking me to kiss G,_ Giotto thought as he stole a glance of Daemon, who clearly heard what he had just said even from the distance between them. _

_Daemon stepped out of the shadows and darkened his glare at Giotto, his crimson eye once again reflecting his emotions by darkening its hue as well. "I did no such thing!"_

_Giotto pivoted on his heels to face Daemon, his eyes trying to say for Daemon to play along the way he wanted him to, crossed his arms across his chest, and puffed up his cheeks in annoyance. "Yes, you did, you pervert!"_

"_Did not!" _I'm so going to torture him slowly until he begs me to kill him after this is over! (_Mukuro now recalled he had quite the temper back then…but the sadistic ways remained intact.) Without knowing what his head was ordering his legs to do, he took his usual strides to decrease the gap between him and Giotto._

_Giotto closed the rest of the gap between them with his own manner of walking. He crossed his arms over his chest and titled his head upwards with a deeper frown once he was situated just a few inches away from Daemon. "Liar!" he exclaimed. _I sound like Lampo in one of his pouty moods.

"_Both of you shut up before I bite you to death."_

_Giotto and Daemon immediately fell silent—that cold tone combined with that cold glare sent a shiver down their backs. Simultaneously, they shifted their vision to Alaude, who had somewhere along their discussion made his way to the duo._

"_Pineapple herbivore, turn yourself in without struggle, or I'll arrest you," Alaude warned with a cold glare and stepped closer to Daemon, a black cuff showing off silver spikes appearing out of nowhere on his hand._

Talk about not making any sense. Isn't he just restating he will arrest me?_ Daemon huffed arrogantly, flipping a hand under his indigo tresses as he closed the distance between him and Alaude, making sure their height difference add on to his air of superiority. He ran his eyes over the beautiful face glaring up at him, especially the virgin plump lips that allured him to just lean downwards by a few inches and mark them as his. "Only if you give me a kiss."_

_Raising an eyebrow at the defiance this particular herbivore was making and the strange demand it wanted, Alaude could only stare in wonder into the heterochromatic peering down on him. A smirk tugged at the corners of his lips._ Perhaps this is a carnivore._ "Why should I grant something an herbivore wants?"_

_Daemon placed a finger under Alaude's chin and tilted the other's head up so their lips were almost touching, their breaths ghosting over their skin. "Then, I'll just take it." He leaned the rest of the way and connected their lips._

Mukuro nodded gravely to himself. _Yes, and right after I did that he beat me to a pulp as much as that hurts my pride to say that._ He straightened his position and folded his arms on his lap; he looked at the form lying on the floor behind Dino and sighed dolefully. "You know, it appears I have given up rather easily after all of these years, but my heart has yet to give up on letting Kyouya do something so dangerous; he barely escaped with his life last time, and I don't believe he'll be able to take it again with his life inta—"

Dino raised his hand in front of him, interrupting whatever more Mukuro had to say. "Wait, I thought it was because he like disappears or something and his appearance changes that you went on a rampage."

An eyebrow twitching, Mukuro told himself to not kill the blond, or he'll have to face Hibari's wrath. Taking a calming breath, he explained, "The reason why his appearance changed is because of the amount of power that was drained from him when he used the Vongola diamonds; he needs that power to sustain his abnormal body, so his appearance became duller like his life line. The maximum amount of time he has before his body simply shuts down all of its functions for not being able to keep the parts that are not human from interfering with the human ones is a year. Giotto had to resort to dramatic extremes to keep him from dying, but the ungrateful beauty over there disappeared somewhere the next day."

Narrowing his eyes at the information, Dino voiced his anger, "Then, what you did to Kyouya could have killed him." _And that must have been why when Kyouya jumped off that building he looked like he was about to collapse right then and there; it seems like he thought he had enough of his power left to shove it in my face he could jump off a building without killing himself_, Dino mused.

Mukuro avoided looking Dino in the eyes, his crimson eye flashing a hurt light when he caught Hibari's limp form on the floor. "I would not have allowed him to die." He stole a glance from Dino when a sudden thought struck him. "When I tried to activate the diamonds on the day Mt. Fuji erupted, they completely rejected me. Why don't you try activating one right now? You are part of the Vongola, after all."

Blinking perplexedly, Dino pointed to himself. "Me?"

A nod asserted Dino's suspicions.

Dino twisted his body to face Hibari and his eyes immediately locked on to the eyes staring back at him. Jumping back when he realized Hibari was awake, he said nervously, "How are you feeling?" _How long has he been awake?_

Hibari shifted his position and pushed himself away with both arms from the floor until he was in a sitting position, his arms shaking slightly under the pressure they were placed under. He scowled at Dino and Mukuro as though the two were in cahoots in a plan against him. "Don't."

For once, Dino was able to muster enough courage to talk back to Hibari's cold tone and a glare of his own. "Why not?"

Hibari gritted his teeth, his scowl deepening to dangerous levels, and reached a hand forward to curl his fingers around the front of Dino's shirt, effectively bringing Dino closer to him. "Dino, those stones are not something one should play around with. Once they choose their owner they stay with their owner, and they are not exactly very kind when someone tries to change that." He looked at Mukuro when he remembered what happened to Mukuro when he tried activating the diamonds—it was not a pretty sight.

Conflicting emotions stirred within Dino: ecstasy for Hibari calling his name for the first time and chagrin for not being able to take away the burden of the diamonds from Hibari. Eventually, both of those emotions were erased when he was faced with the fact Hibari might fall in an eternal sleep and no kiss of true love would be able to awaken him from it. Without better examining his choice of action, Dino wrapped his arms around Hibari and rested his head on Hibari's shoulder, his grip around Hibari becoming harder every passing second. "I don't want you to die, Kyouya," he whispered in Hibari's ear, tears defying his determination of appearing strong as they clumped together and threatened to fall. How did accompanying Hibari on one of his "missions" turn into learning Hibari would die if he used some weird stones' power? _So many things have been happening so fast in such a small amount of time that I don't even know how to wrap my head around anything anymore._

Right when Dino closed his arms around him, Hibari became like a statue. But when Dino whispered those words with an emotion Hibari never knew existed, his body seemed to turn to jelly; then, he felt Dino shake slightly against him, and a drop of what he thought to have been water at first seeped through his clothing. Hibari thought at that moment he was going to fall through the floor and wrapped his arms around Dino to keep himself on this level of Earth—he wasn't planning on visiting all of the six realms like Mukuro; he was perfectly fine where he was, thank you very much.

Multiple footsteps began to fill the room, making Mukuro raise to his feet while materializing his trident in one hand and Dino to blink away the tears and slacken his grip around Hibari. Dino cursed when he looked up and found they were trapped on all sides by men wearing bullet-proof vests and masks and guns held in front of them, ready to shoot at any moment should Mukuro, Dino, or Hibari make a wrong move. Dino leaned close to Hibari and whispered while his eyes scanned the crowd blocking their escape and slipped the diamonds inside his pocket as stealthily as he could, "Are you able to stand?"

Hibari shifted his legs around a bit and found that task to be to be hard to do. "No," he whispered back. There goes his pride.

Dino looked down at Hibari, silently inquiring if he could pick him up, and Hibari, though very grudgingly, nodded his head. Dino slowly placed his hands under Hibari's knees and his upper back and stood up, Hibari grunting in pain at the movement.

One of the officers—already nicknamed Officer Number One in Dino's mind—shouted at Dino, tilting his gun to the side to point it directly at Dino's head, "Don't move!"

Instead of heeding the warning, Dino walked around on his spot to face Officer Number One and threw a glare at the man. Dino quickly looked down at Hibari and found him to be asleep again. _That was fast._

The officer flinched under the intensity of Dino's glare and his determination wavered briefly before readjusting itself more strongly. "You are to drop your weapons and come with us peacefully under the command of the Prime Minister."

Mukuro crossed his arms over his chest defiantly, his trident catching the light in the room and blinding an officer in the path the light reflected back on. "'The Prime Minister', you say?" Mukuro taunted.

Another officer—Officer Number Two—on the other side of the room retorted, "That's right, bastard; juuda—the Prime Minister ordered it."

Dino and Mukuro immediately recognized the voice and the "juuda—" part that could only belong to a silver-haired teen. They looked around at the crowd officers and saw most of them were wondering where the "juuda" had come from; most of them being everyone else barring one, and Mukuro and Dino also immediately recognized the tall complexion and the spiky, dark chocolate locks pocking out behind the white mask. And then they realized who this "Prime Minister" actually was.

_What is Tsuna doing?_


	17. Chapter 17

I apologize for this, but, after countless attemps of forcing my brain to cooperate with me, I can't come up with anything to continue this story. I am really sorry...

However, I am setting this for adoption. Simply PM me saying you wish to continue my stories, and I will willingly give you all of the rights of this story.

I'd like to thank all of the support I have been given as I wrote this story. Thank you very, very, very much!

I apologize yet again for discontinuing this.

-YueRyuu


	18. Chapter 18

Hello,

I want to inform everyone Kaitou Kyou will be continued by CrimsonSkyTamer.

Thank you CrimsonSkyTamer for adopting this story!

-YueRyuu


	19. Chapter 19

Hello again!

I have allowed anyandeveryanime to adopt Kaitou Kyou, so, if anyone is interested in reading both versions of what Kaitou Kyou will turn out to be, you now know.

Regards,

YueRyuu


End file.
